Reigning World Champion Patrick Chan leads Canada’s gold medal hopefuls into Nice, France to take on the world’s best
The best figure skaters in the world are coming exclusively to CBC beginning Tuesday, March 27, with more than eight hours of comprehensive daily coverage of the 2012 World Figure Skating Championships from Nice, France, and live broadcasts of the Men’s and Women’s Free Programs.
CBC Television launches its coverage of the 2012 World Figure Skating Championships on Tuesday, March 27 with coverage of the Preliminaries. The Pairs Short Program can be seen at 3 p.m. (local times, 3:30 NT) on CBC Television, followed by the Dance Short Program at 8 p.m. (NT) starting March 28. Please see full broadcast schedule below. In addition, CBC’s digital channel bold and CBCSports.ca offer live daily coverage beginning every morning from March 28 to April 1.
Reigning World Champion Patrick Chan leads a strong Canadian team to the season-ending world championship event, which takes place March 27 to April 1. Among those joining the five-time Canadian champion are Olympic gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who are looking to reclaim the World Ice Dancing Champions title from their American training partners Meryl Davis and Charlie White. Rounding out the Canadian contingent are rising star Amélie Lacoste, pairs teams of Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford and Jessica Dubé/Sebastian Wolfe, men’s single skater Kevin Reynolds and ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje along with Kharis Ralph and Asher Hill.
The Canadians will be taking on a field stacked with World Champions and Olympic Stars, including three-time world champion pairs team Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany and Olympic silver medalist and former world champion Mao Asada of Japan. Chan will be facing stiff competition from two-time world champion, 2009 and 2010, Daisuke Takahashi and 2011 world champion runner-up Takahiko Kozuka both of Japan.
CBC’s award-winning sportscaster Scott Russell (@SportsWkndScott), of CBC Sports Weekend, hosts the 2012 World Figure Skating Championships broadcasts from Nice alongside Brenda Irving(@Sportswkndbrenda), providing play-by-play, and Canadian figure skating legends and analysts Tracy Wilson and Kurt Browning. P.J. Kwong handles play-by-play duties for the competition from start to finish on bold and CBCSports.ca. Kwong (@skatingpj) will also be tweeting throughout the broadcasts and will take part in online chats happening throughout the daily coverage on cbcsports.ca.
Figure skating fans can visit CBCSports.ca 24 hours a day, seven days a week for comprehensive coverage, including breaking news, in-depth reports, broadcast schedules and more.
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, Internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages, plus seven languages for international audiences. In 2011, CBC/Radio-Canada celebrated 75 years of serving Canadians and being at the centre of the democratic, social and cultural life of Canada.
For further information, contact:
James Lamont, Veritas Communications
(Work) 416-482-2617; (Cell) 416-859-5870
lamont@veritascanada.com
BROADCAST SCHEDULE
(Schedule subject to change)
CBC Television
March 27 3 p.m. local Preliminaries
March 28 3 p.m. local Pairs Short Program
8 p.m. local Dance Short Program
March 29 3 p.m. local Women’s Short Program (MB - 1 p.m.-2 p.m. local)
8 p.m. local Women’s Short & Dance Free Program
March 30 3 p.m. local Men’s Short Program
8 p.m. local Men’s Short & Pairs Free Program
March 31 12 p.m. ET Live Men’s Free Program
4 p.m. ET Live Women’s Free Program
April 1 8 p.m. local Gala
CBCSports.ca & bold
March 28 7 a.m. Pairs Short Program
12 p.m. Opening Ceremony & Dance Short Program
March 29 6:30 a.m. Women’s Short Program
1 p.m. Dance Free Program
March 30 6:30 a.m. Men’s Short Program
1:30 p.m. Pairs Free Program
March 31 7 a.m. Men’s Free Program
12:30 p.m. Women’s Free Program
April 1 8:15 a.m. Gala
